Uncle
by JubeeDancer
Summary: Lindsey's life is turned upside down when her parents die. She has to uproot her happy life in the US and move in with her only living relative who she didn't know she had. *started about 6 years ago and am now getting around to finishing!*
1. Prologue

An: I don't own the HP characters, JK does! I bow to her, the queen of creativity! Don't sue! I do own all other characters in this story! Reviews are greatly appreciated, flames are happily ignored. Enjoy!

Lindsey and Zoë walked out of their school and onto the grounds. They walked to their favorite oak tree and sat in the shade of it.

"Finally!" Zoë exclaimed. "No more studying, no more exams. Just a nice relaxing summer." She stretched her legs out and leaned back on her elbows.

"Yeah, but no more Kitty Cats either." Lindsey added.

"I'll be a nice break though." Zoë replied. "I can't wait to find out how many OWLs I get!."

"Oh," Lindsey groaned, "I don't even want to think about OWLs. I need a subject change."  
"What are you talking about." Zoë said. "You're the best in the year, you probably got a zillion OWLs. Me on the other hand. Let's just say it's a good thing my parents are muggles and don't know about OWLs, otherwise, I'd be in big trouble."

"I'm sure you did fine Z, you always do." Lindsey said. It was the truth, Zoë was a pretty good student but not as good as Lindsey. She brushed a piece of raven hair out of her face. They both had ditched their robes for some Kitty Cat T-shirts and jeans. A couple girls with Kitty Cat shirts walked by their tree.

"Hey Nanna, hey Z!" They called. Both girls waved to them and continued their talk.

"People want a JV team." Zoë said to Lindsey. Lindsey was taken back.

"No, absolutely not!" she replied.

"Why, it wouldn't be that bad!." Z responed.

"Well, they can organize it with their our coach. I'm done organizing." Lindsey said laying down on the grass. She stretched her arms and legs out.

"It's not that hard is it?" Z asked.

"It's really hard, it was worth the work but it was still really hard. We were lucky to get Maria." Lindsey said. Zoë nodded and looked across the field.

"Did you hear about You-Know-Who?" Z asked.

"Of course, if someone hasn't heard about it by now I'd be surprised. I not too afraid yet. He's still in Europe." Lindsey picked lazily at the grass.

"I guess you're right, but still." Zoë said. She adjusted her shirt. "Look, it's Craig!" A boy with blonde hair had walked out of the castle and was walking toward them with his dark haired friend. Lindsey rolled her eyes and Zoë sat up straight and fussed with her hair.

"Hey ladies!" Craig, the blond, called as they drew nearer. "Looking fine as usual."

"Thanks." Z said in a very high pitched voice that was rather unnatural.

"You're very welcome." He replied flirtly and took a seat next to Zoë. He put his arm around her. "How were your exams?"

"Great." Z exclaimed. Craig's friend Jared sat next to Lindsey and tried to put his arm around her as well. She moved to away slightly. Then she stood up.

"I'm going to go talk to Mar-Professor Ruehr. I'll talk to you later Z." Lindsey said and walked away. She could feel Jared's eyes on her. She walked into the castle and up two floors. She walked down the hall humming a song that was stuck in her head. She stuck her head into Maria's office.

"Mea!" She called to her Defense Against the Dart Arts professor. She saw that there were two cups of tea sitting on the desk.

"Lindsey." Maria answered gloomily. Lindsey sensed something was wrong because she had used her full name. Maria never used her full name. She always shortened it. Lindsey walked in and sat down across from her.

"I just met with the headmistress." Maria explained. "She wants me to talk to you."

"Is it about the Kitty Cats?" Lindsey asked. She hoped that Professor Snyder didn't want to end the Kitty Cats, it was her life.

"No, no." Maria answered. "Would you like something to drink?"

"Actually a iced coffee would be great! It's hot out there." Lindsey answered. "But what's going on?"

Maria flicked her wand and the drink appeared where the tea cup had been. Lindsey took a sip and waited patiently for an explanation.

"Well," Maria sighed. "It's your parents. They're dead." Lindsey's glass shook violently in her hand as she tried to place it back down.

"What, How?" Lindsey asked, her voice cracked and became very high pitched.

"They were attacked two nights ago and when they didn't show up for work someone was sent to their house." Maria explained. "I'm so sorry."

"Where am I going to go?" Lindsey asked. She was doing her best to hold her tears inside.

"You have an uncle in England. We're trying to contact him. Until we do, you'll be staying here." Maria responded. "Are you going to be okay?" Lindsey shook her head and covered her face with her hands. She let the tears flow as they wouldn't stay away anymore. Maria came around her desk and hugged her tight.

"It'll be okay." She cooed. Lindsey stayed in Maria's office for the rest of the afternoon. She stopped crying after a while. She was going to go down to dinner. She had just reached for the handle when she turned back around.

"What's his name?" She asked. She realized that she had not asked about her uncle at all.

"Severus Snape." Maria answered.

A/n: I hope you'll enjoy this! I think I'll probably write one more chapter but then I'll wait and see if anybody's into it. If I don't have enough people interested in the story then I'll probably stop it, so please, if you're mildly interested, review!


	2. First Impressions

Lindsey flattened her black robes nervously. She was in the headmistress's office. Her trunks were sitting happily next to the fireplace. Athena, her brown owl with one large white spot on her stomach, hooted softly. It was almost time for her to leave. She was leaving everything behind. That's how she felt anyway. She was truly leaving everything behind but she was definitely leaving her heart. She ran her fingers through her hair one more time and looked down at her watch. There were five minutes, only five minutes! She looked around at Maria, her teacher, her coach, and her friend. They embraced.

"I'll miss you Nanna!" She said and her voice quivered. Lindsey could hear the tears coming. She didn't want to cry though. She couldn't cry anymore, she done that too much.

"I'll miss you Rah!" Lindsey replied. Maria gave her one last squeeze and let go. Lindsey turned to her best friend Zoë. Zoë already had tears in her eyes and was sniffling.

"Z," Lindsey started, "You promised." She smiled and laughed.

"I can't help it," Zoë replied. "You're moving to England, you know how far away that is!?" She wrapped her arms around her friend. "I mean, I couldn't get there on land, I'd have to swim."

"Don't worry, I'll write a lot and I'll see if maybe my uncle will let you come stay for a little during the summer and if he says no, you're coming anyway." Lindsey said reassuringly. Zoë laughed and they broke apart. Lindsey sighed and looked around the room one last time. She'd been in the office a lot over her past five years. Not that she was a troublemaker but all the organizing for the Kitty Cats.

"Well, you'd better go, you don't want to be late do you?" Headmistress Carlson interrupted. She ushered Lindsey toward the fireplace and reached for a wooden box. There were carvings covering the entire box. The lid was opened and Lindsey reached inside. She got a pinch of the powder and threw it into the fireplace. The flames roared and turned green. Professor Carlson shoved Lindsey's trunks and owl in and stepped aside.

With a final wave to her friends, Lindsey climbed into the flames. Her eyes welled with tears and she sighed heavily. She heard a voice yell, "Snape Manor" yet she hadn't felt her mouth move. The headmistress's office dissolved as Lindsey spun around. She clenched her eyes tight waiting for the spinning to stop. Yet part of her wished she'd just keep spinning and she never wanted to stop. When she stopped she knew it would be a different world with new rules and new people and she just wasn't ready for that. It wasn't enough for her parents to die but she had to move to a new country, with a new school where no one knew her. She had pictured her uncle in her head as a handsome, smiling middle-aged man who was only so happy to meet her. She expected him to be neatly groomed as well. She imaged a man much like her father.

The spinning stopped and Lindsey opened her eyes. There was a kitchen, alive with sunlight. There stood a man with chin length, greasy black hair and a scowl. Lindsey stepped out of the fireplace with her belongings. A smile was stretched wide across her face. The man in front of her remained unchanging. He scowled at her.

"Hello." He offered a cold greeting. His outreached hand proved to be as cold as his greeting. They shook hands for a brief and awkward second. Severus crossed his arms across his chest once more. Lindsey was feeling uncomfortable.

"I'm Lindsey." She said feeling the need to say something. "But you probably already knew that." She could have kicked herself. The first thing she says to her new uncle, and it makes her sound like a ditz. She knew the horrible impact of a first impression. She'd never let Jared live down the impression she first got from him. She'd always consider him an arrogant son of a monkey. She'd never let herself get to know him any better.

"So." Severus said after five minutes of staring intently at his niece. "I guess I should show you to your room then." Lindsey merely smiled and nodded. Severus levitated her trunks and led the way out of the kitchen and into the foyer. It was very dark and lined with photos of the various family members. They all muttered to one another as Lindsey carried Athena after Severus. He led her up a set of narrow, dark stairs that climbed five floors. He then opened the last door on the fifth floor.

There was a dimly light, plain room. A single four poster bed with green hangings was placed on the far wall and a wooden wardrobe stood next to it. Hanging from the ceiling in the middle of the room was a chandler lit with six candles. In another corner of the room, there was a desk and chair. A small window was opposite the desk but was covered by green curtains. Lindsey forced a smile onto her face.

"I'll let you get settled in. I have some business to take care of right now so I'll be gone for a few hours." Severus announced. Lindsey just nodded. She was afraid that if she said anything, it'd be stupid and embarrassing again. He swept out of the room and shut the door.

Lindsey looked around once more with despair. Athena hooted softly. Lindsey set her cage down on the desk and quickly unlocked it. She rummaged through her trunk and got out some parchment, a quill, and some ink. She began a to write two notes, one to Maria and one to Zoë. They both said exactly the same thing. When she was finished, she addressed the letters and called Athena over. The owl stuck out her leg.

"One goes to Professor Ruehr and one goes to Zoë." She instructed as she tied the letters to Athena's leg. The owl hooted in comprehension. Lindsey walked to the window and threw back the curtains. The window was grimy and didn't open easily but it opened all the same and Athena flew off into the day. Lindsey walked to the bed and lowered herself slowly thinking of the events of the past week and all the emotions that had run so highly.

_I officially hate this. I miss you guys already and I haven't even been here an hour. I can already tell that I won't like my uncle. I think he thinks I'm a ditz too. I wanna come home and live with Zoë. The room I'll be in is very very plain. I want school to start again, as strange as that is. At least there I won't have to be alone with my uncle. I'll be able to make new friends. He's creepy and he didn't even stay every long! He said he had business to take care of! How lame is that? He can't even take the day off to spend some time with his new niece. I'm counting down the days until I can come back home and be with you guys!_

_Help!_

_Lindsey_

A/n: sorry it took so long for me to update! Please review for me!


	3. Flight of the Orphan

Uncle Severus didn't come home that night. Well, at least he wasn't home when Lindsey went to bed and he wasn't there when she woke the next morning. There was breakfast on the table and a note next to it explaining that he had more 'business' to take care of.

"Great." Lindsey said aloud. "Just great." She sat down and picked at her food a little but she wasn't that hungry. She put the plate in the sink and left the kitchen. She didn't like this at all. She hated not having anything to do. Her summers had always been just as busy as her school year. She'd taking classes, dance classes, voice lessons, a Spanish class. She'd never been alone and bored.

The door to Uncle Severus's room was ajar. Lindsey contemplated whether or not to snoop.

"Should I?" She asked herself. "No," she turned her back to the door, "That's wrong, this man needs his privacy." She took two steps away from the door. "On the other hand, he's not here to answer questions about what he's doing. He'll never know. I'll just take a peak." She pushed the door open nervously and it creaked. She crept into the unexpectedly clean room. She looked around.

"Nothing out of the ordinary." Lindsey said aloud. There was a sigh of relief. She noticed the wardrobe door hung open. She slowly crept over to it as if there was something dangerous in it. She touched it lightly and it opened. Inside, she saw mostly black robes but there was one thing that caught her eye and she gasped. She backed away from the wardrobe as if it was contagious.

There was a small pop. "Severus!" A male voice exclaimed. Lindsey whipped around so fast that her hair smacked her in the face but she didn't care. She recognized the man at once. If it had been a different meeting, she would have been very awe-struck, but currently she was too scared and confused.

"Alas, Ms. Hathaway." He exclaimed. "I was looking for your uncle. Is he here?"

Lindsey shook her head. She was still horrified by what she had found and was mortified that Professor Albus Dumbledore found her snooping in Uncle Severus's room.

"Do you know where I may be able to find him?" Professor Dumbledore asked. Lindsey shook her head once more. Dumbledore's eyes traveled from Lindsey's shocked expression to the wardrobe that stood open.

"I must get going, I really need to find him." Dumbledore said. "If you see him, will you tell him I'm looking for him?"

"Of course." Lindsey said. That was the first thing she'd said to him. He nodded and Apparated. Lindsey fled the room with wings of fear. She ran to her room and grabbed her quill and parchment. She scribbled four words onto each of two pieces of parchment. Tears rolled down her cheeks.

"Shoot!" She exclaimed. Athena was out delivering letters. How was she supposed to get this letters to her friends without her uncle finding out? She thought and thought and thought. Nothing seemed to be a good possibility. Then she remembered the music box. Zoë had given it to her. Whatever she put in it would be put in Zoë's which was identical to the she had. She ran to her trunk and opened it. She placed another note instructing Z to give the other letter to Maria. The placed them in the box and closed the lid. She wiped away her tears and sat back on her bed. She reached into her trunk once more and pulled out a photo album. She sat and reminisced.

When Severus got home that night, Lindsey was still awake but she couldn't go to him. She couldn't see him. She needed to get out of here. She could be in danger if what she thought was true. She laid in bed, still as a statue and listened to the noises.

"She knows, Severus." Dumbledore said. They were in Snape's house.

"How?" Snape asked. "I haven't told her."

"She found the mask. I saw her face, she was horrified." Dumbledore answered as they climbed the stairs. "You need to explain it to her." Their voices grew louder through Lindsey's bedroom door and she clamped her eyes shut hoping to avoid a conversation. She handle of the door rattled as it turned. A line of light appeared and grew as the door opened.

"Albus, I can't talk to her now, she's sleeping. I'll talk to her in the morning." Severus's cool voice exclaimed. The door closed and the light disappeared. Lindsey exhaled. She could still hear the voices in the hall.

"You have to, soon. She must be terrified Severus. She might do something outrageous. You have to watch her through the night." Albus exclaimed. Their voices became less audible as they moved farther away.

"Albus she's sleeping, she won't do anything rash while she's sleeping." Severus replied and yawned. "Good night." He added and walked into his room and shut the door. Albus Apparated away.

Lindsey waited for what felt like days to make sure her uncle was asleep. She heard the quiet yet familiar tickling of her music box. She quietly and quickly got out of bed and reached for the box. The parchment inside had one word.

_Run!_

So she did. She packed some of the most important things in a bag and grabbed the music box. She ran silently down the stairs and was relieved to hear snoring in her uncle's room. She burst through the front door and ran into the night. She had no clue where she was going but she was just going to keep running until she felt she was safe.

Dumbledore reached out and grabbed Lindsey. She screamed and struggled against him not being able to see who it was.

"NO! Let me go!" she screamed and she thrashed her arms and kicked her legs. She couldn't reach her wand.

"Shhhh!" Dumbledore cooed. "It's alright, I'm not going to hurt you." However, Lindsey wasn't listening. Dumbledore Apparated the two of them to a place Lindsey was not familiar with. It seemed to be a kitchen. Lindsey heard footsteps and the door burst open. A crowd of people piled in, the majority had red hair and freckled. One boy stood out with his jet-black hair, dazzling green eyes, glasses, and scar. Harry Potter.


	4. Explanations and Hallucinations

A plump woman pushed her way to the front of the group. Her hair was pulled up into a nightcap and she wore a nightgown. She had one arm in a robe and was attempting to pull the other arm through. Her eyes widened at she turned on her heels to face the crowd of teenagers.

"Go! Bed! Now!" She yelled and pointed her finger over their heads toward the door.

"But…" One of the group complained. He was tall and gangly looking with red hair and freckles sprinkled across his face. The woman however frowned and shook her head.

"No buts any of you. Get to bed now and leave us." The group all left with disgruntedly mumbling. The woman shut the door to the kitchen and Lindsey heard the attempts of footsteps on the steps. She could tell they were the type of footsteps she tried when she was younger when her parents would want 'grown-up time'. She always pretended to stomp up the stairs while really staying to listen to the latest happenings at her dad's work. She had a feeling that if she opened the door the group would still be standing there. Lindsey struggled less then she had at first. If Harry Potter was here, she must be save, right? Her captor led her to a chair and sat her down. He faced her. It was Professor Dumbledore. Her head spun with the events and she rocked in her chair. Her eyelids drooped for a few seconds from the effect she'd used to try to escape. Dumbledore reached out and steadied her shoulders.

"You need to know something." Dumbledore said to her. He looked straight into her eyes through his half moon glasses. His eyes reflected the candlelight.

"What's going on Albus? Is this Snape's niece?" The woman asked flitting about the kitchen frantically. "Why is she here?"

"Molly, calm down." Dumbledore said not taking his eyes off of Lindsey. She fidgeted in her chair. That stare was rather unnerving her. "Why don't you sit down." She sank into a chair across the table from them obediently. He finally looked away and Lindsey sighed in relief. "This is Lindsey, Snape's niece, yes. She found his mask." Her eyes widened and her mouth formed a silent 'oh'. Dumbledore looked back at Lindsey and released her shoulders. She slumped against the back of the chair. His grip was surprisingly strong considering his frail appearance. She could sense that he was about to say something but she had a question and she wasn't going to be silent.

"He's a Death Eater?" Lindsey asked. Her anger rose inside her.

"Yes, however…" Dumbledore answered her while giving her that unnerving stare.

"And you're employing him. You're letting him teach your students. How…how…could…you? I thought you were supposed to be the number one anti-Dark Arts wizard?" She said her voice growing louder with every word. She didn't care what the great Albus Dumbledore thought of her if he was going to allow this man to work at his school.

"You don't understand, he's…," Dumbledore said calmly. He didn't even blink when she stood up so violently that her chair was knocked half way across the floor. The woman across from them however jumped in her chair.

"I know what he must be. He must be an evil, soulless, heartless, killer. That's the only way he could be a servant of You-Know-Who." Lindsey practically yelled. There was such passion in her voice that she probably could have killed her uncle at that moment, if he had been there. Blind anger drove her to run for the door to the kitchen. She didn't hear the spell cast but she saw the jet of light pass by her and hit the door. She reached the handle and pulled as hard as she possibly could but the door wouldn't budge.

"Lindsey, you must understand," Dumbledore said as coolly as though they were discussing the weather, "he is not a killer, anymore." She turned toward the old man and crossed her arms. She knew there was no point in trying for her wand, it was in front of Snape's house in her bag.

"What do you mean?" She said, her nostrils flared like they did frequently.

"If you will calmly have a seat I will explain." Dumbledore said. He flicked his wand and the chair glided in the air to its original spot next to his. Lindsey had to admit to herself that he had great patience. If someone flipped out on her, she would have smacked him or her so hard. She glared at him but lowered herself into the chair anyway.

"Your uncle was a Death Eater when Voldemort," both Lindsey and the other woman shivered when Dumbledore said the name but he continued anyway, "first rose to power. However, he became a spy for us before Voldemort's downfall. At his own risk, he went back to Voldemort when he rose again and has continued to be a spy."

The kitchen around Lindsey turned blurry as she tried to comprehend everything that had just been said to her. Her uncle was a hero. He was risking everything to give the good guys a sight into the dark side. She would have never guessed. It was so easy to think of the man with the black, greasy hair and the cold, emotionless eyes as evil. He didn't seem the part of the hero.

"Lindsey?" Dumbledore said gently. She remained silent. Her eyes out of focus and her eyebrows drawn together in thought. "Lindsey…" He was saying something but she wasn't hearing him. She was staring at something ahead of her. There stood her father. His thinning, brown hair and sparkling green eyes. His ever-knowing smile forced a smile on her face as well.

"Lindsey." His cheerful voice sounded. "Lindsey sweetie. Everything's all right. It'd be okay. I'm going to have to go for awhile. I won't be about to check in with you for a few hours, maybe even a day. I promise that I will be home tomorrow morning when you wake up but mom's going to have to tuck you in tonight. I love you sweetie." His body faded in front of her eyes. She reached out as though to grab him and hold him there forever. She remembered that day. She knew now that he was going on a very dangerous assignment that he didn't think he would have come back from. He didn't come back that morning. Lindsey had been five and she'd been terrified but he was home that night, with a few scratches but nothing more. Tears filled her eyes as she cried out to him.

"Don't go." She said with her arm still outstretched. Dumbledore placed a hand on her shoulder and softly said her name once more. She shook her head and quickly withdrew her arm. She looked down and tried to wipe her eyes without them noticing.

"What were you saying?" She asked quickly. Her voice cracked.

"We should get going back home before your uncle finds you missing." Dumbledore repeated himself. He turned to the woman. "Molly, I'm so sorry for the disruption. I'll want to talk with you and Arthur tomorrow."

"Of course, sir." Molly replied. Dumbledore turned to Lindsey.

"Are you ready to go home?"

"Home." She repeated and nodded. It wasn't home to her, it'd never be home to her. He grabbed her shoulder and the room dissolved in front of her. She was back in the room in her uncle's house. Her things were back there however Dumbledore wasn't. She went to the bed and didn't even undress. She crawled under the covers and drew them up to her chin. Her eyelids fell closed and she dreamed of that night when she was little. She remembered the feeling she had when she had woken up that morning and her dad wasn't in the kitchen with her mom having coffee.


	5. The First Talk

a/n: I am so sorry! I've been really busy with school and pom and everything. I feel like a horrible person for not updating in so long. So I hope I'll be able to write more over break for you all. Also, if you like Buffy and/or Charmed, please read(and review) my other story, Meant to Live. I'd really love it if you would.

Last thing before I start the chapter, I want to answer Dslguy14's question. You'll just have to wait and see what house she'll be in, okay. Don't worry, it'll be soon.

So, here's the long awaited next chapter(so sorry again)!

**********

Lindsey walked down the stairs the next morning and into the kitchen. Her uncle wasn't there again but she really hadn't expected him too be there. She wasn't disappointed about it either. There was no doubt in her mind that her uncle knew about what had happened with Professor Dumbledore and she really didn't want to talk about it with him. She was too embarrassed. She picked at the plate of eggs that was sitting on the table but she couldn't really eat any. Last night, she'd seen her dad again. What had happened? Why had she remembered that particular occation at that particular moment? What does Professor Dumbledore think of her now? Her mind raced with questions as she blankly stared at the stone wall. She needed to clear her mind so she gave up on trying to eat and decided to go for a run.

_Why does it have to be him?_ She asked herself. _Why is he my only remaining uncle? Why couldn't it be someone else? Someone like my dad. But there's no one like my dad. He's one of a kind, no one else like him in the world._

Lindsey stopped thinking about things for a moment to absorb the scenery. It was a woodsy area. There didn't appear to be any signs of human life, just wildlife. There was white rabbit sitting in the grass across the two lane road she was on. She smiled inwardly at the irony. Everyone in the world thought of magic as pulling a rabbit, not unlike this one, out of a black top hat. There was so much more to it then people know. It's a way of life. And yet, Lindsey hated being defined by magic. She continued her run as she thought about her life before. It was everything that supporters of You-Know-Who hate. Since her mom was a Squib, she'd gone to muggle school and played muggle sports. Well, not really sports. She had taken dance classes. Even after she started at Salem Acadamy for the Arts. She had taken dance classes over the summer. She couldn't stand people who thought muggles were inferior to wizards and witches. Her best friend was muggle born. It had been such a shock to Lindsey when she had gotten to SAA and Zoë was there. Lindsey had experienced a lot of teasing for just hanging out with Z.

Then there was the whole Kitty Cats thing. Man, Lindsey had gotten so much hate mail when she first started it. Many students and parents thought that it was a bad idea to have a dance team. Everyone who had complained was pureblood. Everyone else could have cared less. There were more people who thought it was a good idea then there were people who were against it. It had been a huge headache for her as a first year to try and set up a whole new team. A team that was new to even the muggles. Many muggle schools had only recently started having dance teams and such. Soon the other two houses had wanted their own dance teams as well.

The name had been Zoë's idea. They were both in Warren house. Their mascot was the wildcats so Z had thought it would be really cute if we were the Kitty Cats and it had stuck. In Lindsey's third year, an interhouse dance competition had first been arranged and the Kitty Cat's had won. They had won the next two years as well. Lots of people thought the competition was fixed for the Cats to win but it was clear that we were a better team. It was all because of Maria. She was so awesome.

Lindsey turned around and headed back for the house. When she walked in the door she knew there was someone in the house. For some reason she got the feeling that it wasn't her uncle. She creeped toward the living room and peeked around the door post. There was a man standing there. He was short and balding, wearing simple black robes. Lindsey couldn't help thinking he looked like a rat. There was just something about his face. He saw her peeking in so there was no way she could just sneak away.

"Hi." She said stepping into the doorway. The man smiled a wicked smile that sent chills up Lindsey spine.

"Hello." The man said. He seemed to be sizing her up and trying to figure out who she was.

"Can I help you?" Lindsey asked, wishing he wouldn't look at her like that.

"I was looking for Severus Snape." The man answered stilling looking Lindsey over, examining every inch of her body.

"He's not here and I really don't know when he'll be back." Lindsey said hoping the man would get the hint and leave. He however sat down on the emerald green couch. Lindsey sighed. His eyes never left her as she entered the room further.

"Who are you?" he asked. Lindsey debated whether or not to answer. This man was very shifty to her. He gave her the feeling that he could possibly be a Death Eater as well.

"I'm, uh, Lindsey." She said. "I'm Severus's niece." The man nodded and turned his head away to look at a picture of a woman. Lindsey was really sweaty from running and was starting to get uncomfortable.

"Do you just want me to tell him you stopped by because I really don't know how long he'll be gone." Lindsey asked hoping that she wasn't being to rude. The man thought about it for a second.

"Sure. Tell him that Peter Pettigrew stopped by and that it's very important. There's information about, uh, work that he needs as soon as possible." He said and stood.

"I'll be sure to tell him." Lindsey said forcing a smile. The man walkd out into the hall and disappeared out the front door.

The rest of the day was spent in anxity as Lindsey waited for her uncle to get home. It was well past sunset before he finally Apparated into the hall. Lindsey jumped when she heard the small pop and quickly ran to greet him.

"Uncle Severus." She said as he started walking towards the kitchen. He did not reply but simply turned to look at her with his ice cold stare. "Peter Pettigrew stopped by and was looking for you. He said that there was some important information you needed for work." She explained. He simply nodded and continued to stare as though waiting for Lindsey to say something more. "Well, good night." She said not knowing what else to say. She glided to the stairs and was a few steps up when she heard her uncle's cold, quiet and yet frightening voice call her name. She turned to look at him.

"Come into the kitchen, we need to talk." He said and turned. He disappeared down the dark hall in the direction of the kitchen. This was exactly what Lindsey feared. He was going to yell at her for the night before. Quietly and slowly she walked into the kitchen and took a seat in the chair across from her uncle.

"As you already know," Lindsey cringed at the tone of voice her uncle was using, "I'm a Death Eater." Lindsey swallowed was was left in her very dry mouth and nodded. "I feel it is best that you know that many of the other Death Eaters may be coming around here this summer. Since you know that I am also working against them for Dumbledore, it may be safer for everyone if I taught you Occlumency." Lindsey's eyes grew wide. Occlumency was very advanced stuff. She didn't think she'd be able to do it.

"Are you sure?" she asked.

"The headmistress at your school seems to think that it wouldn't be too difficult for you to learn." If Lindsey wasn't so afraid right now, she would have been smiling at the compliment. "You will start tomorrow. Tonight I want you to try and get rid of all your mind of all emotion. You will need to do this every night." Lindsey nodded. "Good night."

Lindsey stood up and walked away. Half of her was extremely excited that she would be learning Occlumency but then half of her was nervous that she would fail miserably at it. She got to her room and sent a message to Z and Maria through her music box. She climbed into bed and laid down but her eyes were wide awake. Something about the name of the man from this afternoon was bugging her. She'd heard it before, a while ago. She shook her head. _I have to rid myself of emotion,_ she thought, _how do I do this_? She tried and then fell asleep.

************

a/n: What do you think? Be brutally honest!


	6. Lindsey Attempts Occlumency

Lindsey woke up the next morning full of emotion. She sat up and looked around as if wishing there was something in her room that would erase her emotion. She sighed.

_I'm a teenage girl for crying out loud,_ she thought to herself rolling her eyes, _emotions run a muck in my brain, I can't get rid of them. If I could, I would have done it already._ She laid back down on her bed and stared at the ceiling for another half hour or so. She was trying to get rid of the emotion that was brought on by the overdose of hormones that she had. It wasn't her fault that she was a teenage girl. After a while, she got up and got dressed. She walked quietly to the door and hesitated to open it. Sighing, she pulled it inward ready to face the inevitable.

As Lindsey walked down the stairs, her ears strained to hear any noise, any sign of life from the house. All she heard was her heart thumping and her feet sliding from one step to the next. She breathed as quietly as possible as though hoping to go unnoticed by her uncle. She reached the bottom and rounded the corner to the kitchen. Sure enough, there he was sitting at the table waiting for her. She smiled nervously.

Uncle Severus's cold stare cut into Lindsey like a knife. She shivered uncontrollably. Severus noticed and smiled slightly. He was pleased of his affect on the girl. Lindsey closed her eyes and sucked in air threw her nose. _No emotion, absolutely no emotion, _she thought. Her mind became blank, or at least she thought it was blank.

"Are you ready?" Severus asked. Lindsey jumped when he spoke breaking her concentration.

"Hang on a second; I need to get that emotionless thing back." She replied and closed her eyes again. Severus laughed. Lindsey had thought once that maybe if he lightened up and laughed sometime that it would be better. However, his laugh was disturbing. It was evil.

"The Dark Lord won't give you _a second_ to clear your mind. You have to be ready at all times." Severus barked. Without warning Severus yelled "_Legilimens!_"

The kitchen seemed to be swimming in and out of focus. Other images seemed to be fighting their way into Lindsey's vision. It seemed logical to try to hold onto the image of the kitchen. She fought for it, reaching out and gripping the chair in front of her with all her might. An image of a crowded Quidditch pitch seemed to be laying onto of her vision. It was transparent as she focused on the black hearted man across from her. Then as suddenly as it had come, it went. The Quidditch pitch had disappeared and the kitchen was as clear as ever. Lindsey's breath was short and rapid.

"Good." Severus commented although his voice didn't sound that sincere. "Much better then Potter ever did."

Lindsey beamed with pride. _I did better then Harry Potter, _she thought to herself in disbelief, _the boy who lived couldn't get this Occlumency thing but I can!_

"Of course, you have work to do. You let me in a little. Next time try and block me as much as possible." Lindsey nodded and placed both hands on the chair in front of her. She would be ready this time.

"_Legilimens!_" Severus said pointing his wand at her once more. The kitchen swam once more. This time the image fighting against Lindsey was one of a girl holding her up against a wall in a dark hall. Lindsey thought quickly, _no I don't wanna see this!_

The image evaporated and Lindsey looked up at Severus.

"What was happening there?" Severus asked. It was almost as if he was concerned, except Lindsey knew better. He was probably just curious.

"Nothing." Lindsey lied even though that had been possibly one of the most terrifying experiences of her life. She looked down to avoid further questioning. She had only been a first year when that had happened. It was when she was organizing the dance team. A sixth year girl, a big one mind you, had cornered her and threatened her. She was from Brody after all. That was the house for the 'pure bloods'. Lindsey had been beaten pretty badly. She'd spent the entire weekend in the hospital wing after that.

"Well," Severus began, "you did much better than expected." Lindsey smiled for a fraction of a second. "We can continue this tomorrow I suppose. Rid your mind of all emotion every night from now on." He commanded. Lindsey nodded. "I'll be off then, work." With a pop, Severus was no longer standing in the kitchen.

Lindsey collapsed to her knees. She pushed a piece of her black hair off of her sweaty forehead with a shaking hand. That had taken quite a bit out of her. She grabbed the back of the chair once more and lifted herself off the ground. A tapping noise caught her attention and she looked to the window.

"Athena!" Lindsey called merrily. She hobbled over to the window and opened it. In flew her tawny owl. Athena landed on a chair and stuck her leg out. Lindsey untied the letter with great difficulty and stroked the owl gently.

_Lindsey,_

_WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU!? Why haven't you returned anything I've sent through the music box? Maria and I have been worried sick! Did you get out or what?_

_Zoë_

"Oops!" Lindsey exclaimed to herself. She ran up the stairs, after having recovered from the Occlumency fiasco, and into her room. She grabbed one of her last pieces of parchment, a quill, and some ink.

_Z and Mea,_

_I'm so sorry! I've completely forgot about the music box. I'm back at my uncle's house but I'm fine. It's okay, he's not evil. It's kinda complicated and I'm not really sure if I'm allowed to say it so I'm not going to. You will never guess what I'm learning right now. OCCLUMENCY! Isn't that awesome. I had my first lesson today. And guess what else. Uncle Severus even said that I did better with it then Harry Potter. HARRY POTTER! Can you believe it? Well I'm gonna send this through the music box so it gets there fast (and to give Athena a break)! Write back soon!_

_Love_

_Lindsey_

Lindsey fished the music box out of the bag she had taken and opened it. Inside were about a dozen or more notes that overflowed onto the desk. Lindsey cleared them out of it and put the letter she'd just written inside. She then laid back on her bed. She couldn't wait for the next Occlumency lesson.


	7. Diagon Alley is Neat

A/n: I'm so sorry for not updating for such a long time…I lost my inspiration. Well I'm back. I've probably lost all my readers but that's okay I guess. Hope you'll all forgive me and continue reading. I promise I'll try to update more regularly!!!!!

Lindsey bounced down the stairs this morning in August. Things couldn't have been going better. Well, they really could have been, she could be back home with her parents but that wasn't possible. So, in Lindsey's current situation, things couldn't have been better. She'd be starting school again in another three weeks and she was trying her best to have a positive attitude. If she was completely honest with herself, she was petrified. The school was supposed to be _huge_ and she wouldn't know anyone, except her uncle but that didn't really count. Lindsey rounded the corner into the kitchen. Suddenly, a figure clad in black robes and black hair jumped out at her.

"_Legilimens_!" The creature shouted. It was a spilt second sensation as though something was tugging at her mind. It disappeared as quickly as it had begun. Lindsey smiled.

"Morning Uncle Severus." She said cheerily. Severus dejectedly walked to the other side of the kitchen table and took a seat.

"Very good." He said almost sadly. It seemed as though he wanted her to fail. Maybe he just wanted to get a look into her history, or maybe he just wanted to be sure that Lindsey would be prepared. He had started to random attacks. After all, Lindsey wasn't going to know when and where she could be attack, although she wasn't too concerned about possible attacks. She'd be at school soon and it was highly unlikely that anyone there would know how to tap into her mind. The two ate in silence until a light tapping noise was heard from the window. Severus got up and let the barn owl into the kitchen. It fluttered over the Lindsey and landed next to her breakfast plate. Lindsey relieved the owl of the envelope and became immediately intrigued. The envelope seemed unusually thick.

"I'm going to go up to my room." Lindsey informed her uncle while her eyes skimmed the front and back of the envelop. She got up to leave, not taking her eyes away from the yellow parchment and green ink.

"Lindsey," Severus cold, smooth voice sounded. Lindsey looked up from the envelope and made a noise of recognition. "I need to pick up a few things from Diagon Alley tomorrow so you should come to get your school things." Lindsey nodded, mentally inferring that this Diagon Alley must be some kind of wizarding store. Lindsey departed to her room.

"Morning Athena." Lindsey said to the owl but continued on her way and sat on the bed. She slowly opened the envelope.

_Dear Ms. Hathoway,_

_We are very pleased to have you attending Howarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry for your sixth year. Please find enclosed a list of all the necessary books and equipment. You will also find enclosed the results of your O.W.L.S._

_Term begins on September 1. Please find enclosed your ticket for the Hogwarts Express, which will be leaving from Platform 9 ¾ on August 31._

_Yours sincerely,_

_Minerva MeGonagall,_

_Deputy Headmistress_

Lindsey unfolded to more papers. The first one appeared to be a list. She read over the list and made a mental note of everything that she had and everything she still needed. Next came the paper she'd been waiting for. Her exam results. She read them in order as they appeared.

Charms: Outstanding

Transfiguration: Outstanding

Potions: Outstanding

Defense Against the Dart Arts: Outstanding

Care of Magical Creatures: Outstanding

Arithmacy: Outstanding

History of Magic: Outstanding

Astronomy: Outstanding

Ancient Runes: Outstanding

Herbology: Outstanding

Lindsey smiled to herself. She got 'Outstanding' in everyone of her exams. She hurried to the music box and scribbled the good news to Zoë.

The next morning, Lindsey got up bright and early. It was mainly due to Athena, who saw a shadow on the floor and thought it was a mouse so she screeched. Lindsey had grabbed the list she'd received as well as a list she had made for herself and stuffed it in her pocket. She wore some sandblasted jeans and a yellow shirt that really made her summer tan stand out. She had taken the extra time that morning to flip out her not-quite-shoulder length black hair.

Severus and Lindsey arrived at the shabby little pub called The Leaky Cauldron at noon. Severus led her straight to the back, an alleyway. He pulled out his wand and tapped a series of bricks with it. The bricks shifted to form an archway that looked onto a cobbled street filled with old-fashioned storefronts. The two entered the shopping center and the arch sealed itself.

They hadn't been there more than five seconds before someone called, "Professor Snape." A boy with bleach blond hair and very fair skin, dressed in robes, approached. He had a devilish smirk planted on his face.

"Malfoy." Severus replied and smiled. "Perfect timing. This is Lindsey. She'll be transferring to Hogwarts this year and she needs to buy some things. I have business to take care of," Lindsey rolled her eyes. He _always_ has 'business'. "Would you be so kind as to show her around and make sure she gets everything she needs?"

Malfoy bowed his head slightly with that nasty smirk still glaring at them. "It would be my pleasure." Severus nodded to Malfoy and Lindsey and took off down the street and into the crowd of shoppers.

Malfoy looked Lindsey over. She couldn't help notice that his eyes stopped momentarily at a few key areas. Lindsey wished she could run after her uncle and beg him not to leave her with this kid. He was giving her a very self-conscious feeling.

"So, a transfer, from where?" Malfoy asked. His voice was much less fake and much more snooty.

"Salem Academy for the Arts." Lindsey replied. Feeling that she should clarify she continued. "It's in the US."

"Well, I think you'll enjoy Hogwarts. Do you know what house you'll be in?" He asked. Lindsey shook her head. She didn't know what each house was. "Well, I'm in Slytherin so lets hope you're lucky enough to get in Slytherin as well. You definitely don't want Hufflepuff or Gryffindor. Ravenclaw wouldn't be too bad. However, its very clear Slytherin is the superior house."

"One can hope." Lindsey added, although she wasn't sincere at all. In fact, Slytherin now became her least favorite house and she would do anything not to be in it. Malfoy didn't notice Lindsey's insincerity at all.

"What do you need?" He asked her. Lindsey pulled a list out of her purse that she had written out. She felt as though she stuck out like a sore thumb in this cobble-stoned shopping center. She was the only one in such a very obviously muggle outfit. Malfoy skimmed the list and looked back at Lindsey. "Do you need to get money from Gringotts?" He asked.

Lindsey shook her head, Uncle Severus had given her money before they left.

"Then let's head to Flourish and Blotts to get your books." Malfoy led the way to the store. Lindsey kept her head down as she walked behind Malfoy.

By the end of the day, Lindsey hated this Malfoy character. He constantly spoke of how pureblooded families were superior and that mudbloods should not be allowed into Hogwarts. Lindsey hated the word 'mudblood'. She'd dealt with it because of Zoë. Malfoy had also bragged about his Quidditch playing and how he was the star of the Slytherin Quidditch team. He never once asked Lindsey questions about herself, yet he seemed very keen on her. As the exited the last shop they needed to go to, Lindsey looked desperately for any sign of her uncle. She definitely preferred his cold stare and uncomfortable silence from Malfoy's constant and endless bragging. Suddenly Lindsey felt a hand push her against the wall of the store she'd just left. Malfoy pushed his body right against her and leaned in.

"Get off!!!" Lindsey yelled with fiery. Instead of kissing her lips, Malfoy got a mouthful of hand as Lindsey shoved his face away from hers. A small group of people a couple of feet away broke out in laughter. Malfoy turned to see who was laughing and Lindsey saw her golden opportunity to get away. She grabbed her bags from off the ground where Malfoy had dropped them and casually joined a group of passing witches all chattering happily about the new set of dress robes one girl had bought. Lindsey chanced a glance back to Malfoy but he was too busy yelling at the group to notice she was gone. She stopped walking and took another good look at the people fighting with Malfoy. She recognized them. She'd seen them before, the night she had tried to run away. Hopefully they hadn't had recognized her, she hoped.

She looked around. How was she supposed to get back?

"Ready?" A familiarly chilly voice asked from behind her. She turned around and smiled inwardly.

"Definitely." She replied.

"Where's Malfoy?" Snape asked. Lindsey just shrugged. She had a feeling her uncle might not believe her if she told him the entire story. Or else he just wouldn't care. Either way, there was no point in telling him. Snape led the way quickly through the crowded street toward the gateway. As they passed the spot were the teens were still arguing Lindsey tried to catch a few of their words but didn't want to stop and have Snape see the argument. She couldn't hear anything over the noise of the happy-go-lucky shoppers. As they made their way to the exit, Lindsey said a silent prayer that she never encounters Malfoy again at school.

A/n: please review!


	8. Welcome to Hogwarts

A/n: Well, I'm glad that there are still some people reading this! Thanks Sara and JediMaster16 for sticking with this story I really appreciate it! Well here's the next one.

Lindsey walked into the crowded train station all by herself at ten o'clock. Uncle Severus had to go to the school a few days early so somebody who worked at the ministry this morning had picked her up. He was a short, wiry thirty something man who seemed to have had way too much coffee that morning. However, he claimed he had urgent business to tend to at the office and could not take Lindsey to the train itself. She wheeled her trolley around in search of platforms nine and ten. People jostled her as they made their way from one train to the next. No one seemed to notice how lost she looked, or else they didn't seem to care. _Typical,_ Lindsey thought, _everyone's too preoccupied with their own life to care about anyone else in the world._ Lindsey finally figured out which direction she need to go in and pushed her trolley along with difficulty. Athena had already gone ahead with Uncle Severus because Lindsey didn't feel comfortable carrying an owl around King's Cross Station.

"Nine and ten." Lindsey muttered to herself as she looked up at the sign on the barrier between the two platforms. She looked around as if looking for a sign. The man from the ministry had explained to her how to get on the platform but she was skeptical. I mean really, it's just common sense. You cannot walk through solid brick. But then again, this was the magical world now, she shouldn't be surprised. She looked to her left and then to her right to make sure no one was watching her. She was clear, so she casually started walking toward the solid brick. As the wall got closer, she clamped her eyes shut and waited for the crushing impact. It didn't come so she opened her eyes and found that she was on another platform. In front of her, a beautiful scarlet train emitted clouds of smoke.

Lindsey pushed her trolley along the eerily empty platform. She was only here that early because this had been the time the ministry had told her they could pick her up at. She loaded her trunk onto the train near the back and sat herself down in the very last compartment of the train. _Nobody'll bother me here, _she figured. Then she found the closest bathroom because she had gotten up late that morning. She muttered a few words and suddenly her appearance was much better. Her black hair was curled, her face was smooth looking and makeup had been applied. She smiled at herself in the mirror and could help noticing how forced it looked. She looked down at the pink watch on her wrist. She had about forty-five minutes before the train would leave yet she could hear the sounds of the early bird families starting to arrive.

Lindsey drowned herself in music while waiting for the train to leave. She used something that Maria had invented. It looked much like a muggle personal cd player yet it did not run on electricity and it did not require cds. It ran on magic and all you needed to do was say the song title and the artist, or sometimes just one of those. You could also say some of the lyrics and it would help you find the song. Lindsey had her own play list so she didn't have to say the name of the song so many times. Lindsey was so lost in the music that she didn't notice the boy come in. She was listening to October Nights by Yellowcard wishing for someone to offer her heart to. She was pulled away from her wishes when the boy cleared his throat. She pressed the pause button and removed the headphones.

"Would it be all right if I sat here?" the boy asked. "All the other compartments are empty."

"Of course, go right ahead." Lindsey said. She recognized the boy immediately before he said another word. It was the famous Harry Potter of course. Not a second after Harry sat down did the train start moving. Lindsey was just about to pull her headphones back on when Harry offered some polite conversation.

"Are you new?" He asked. He suddenly shuddered at how rude he sounded. "I just mean that I don't think I've seen you around Hogwarts before and you have a strange accent."

Lindsey laughed. "Yeah I'm new. And my accent is not strange, yours is." Harry laughed quietly. "I'm Lindsey." She felt she'd add and offered a hand to shake. Harry accepted.

"Harry." He replied. Lindsey knew of course but didn't say anything because she knew that would make things awkward.

"Nice to meet you." Harry opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted by a very angry female voice from the doorway.

"I just can't believe Dumbledore let that slimy git remain prefect." A girl with bushy brown hair ranted as she entered the compartment and sat down next to Harry. Behind her, a rather annoyed looking red haired boy and red haired girl entered and took a seat next to Lindsey. She recoiled slightly and placed her headphones over her ears. She turned her attention out the window to the now green landscape rolling by. Lindsey drew her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around them.

She sat like this listening to her music the rest of the train ride. Occasionally she'd glance back at the compartment to see what the others were doing. Most of the time they were speaking in hushed voices. Once, the brunette noticed her watching and motioned to the others to be quiet until Lindsey looked away again. Lindsey grew tired from the motion of the train and the soothing music that was now coming through her music player. She rested her head against the cool window and closed her eyes, letting herself drift into dreamland.

"Who do you think she is?" Hermione asked in a hushed voice once she noticed the girl fall asleep.

"Her name's Lindsey and she's new." Harry replied happily sharing the information he'd learned in they're brief conversation.

"Isn't she that girl who was in the kitchen screaming that one night." Ron asked looking at her. "And then she was at Diagon Ally with Malfoy."

"I wonder why she's here." Hermione thought out loud. Ron and Harry just shrugged. "Well she's strange." Hermione added thinking back to the two events that Ron just pointed out.

"I don't know," Harry interrupted, "She seemed nice enough."

Just as Sarah Mclachlen's song When She Loved Me was coming to an end, Lindsey felt someone tapping her. She jolted awake and pulled her headphones off.

"We're almost to the school." The bushy haired girl told her. Lindsey noted that everyone else had changed into their robes. "You should change into your school robes."

"Thank you." Lindsey said softly. She disappeared and reappeared minutes later wearing the usual gray skirt and socks, white shirt, gray sweater with the black robe over it. The train eventually rolled to a stop and Lindsey traveled onto the dark, crowded platform alone. She saw a large man holding a lantern.

"First years!" He was yelling. "First years this way." Lindsey walked up to this wild looking man.

"E-excuse me sir." She said timidly. He smiled down at her.

"First year?" He asked kindly.

"Well-well no. I'm new here, I just transferred and..." She stammered.

"Oh, you must be the Hathaway girl." He said. "Yes, you'll be coming with me and the first years." Lindsey nodded and stepped into the crowd of young kids. Some of them looked just as nervous as Lindsey, others looked overly excited and there were a few who simply looked bored. As soon as the large man was satisfied that he had all the first years, they made their way to a lake where there were little rowboats.

"Four to a boat now." The large man called, while he took up an entire boat to himself. Lindsey got in a boat with a girl with brown curly pigtails, another girl with straight blonde hair, and a girl with curly brown hair. The boats took them along the river to a gigantic castle with numerous glowing windows. The crossed the spacious lawn and into the castle where a stern looking witch, named Professor McGonagall, took them to a room to wait to be sorted. Then they were taken into a large hall filled with students, all sitting at one of four tables. As Lindsey walked in with the rest of the first years, she spotted Harry and the others who had been in her compartment. She then saw her uncle sitting at a table ahead. _Must be the teacher's table,_ Lindsey inferred. She gave him a smile but all she got in return was an icy stare. At the front of this large hall stood an old hat sitting on a stool. Dumbledore stood up at the table behind the stool when all the first years were lined up and the hat had sung a song..

"Students, this year at Hogwarts we have a transfer student. She will be joining the rest of the six years in their classes. So would Lindsey Hathaway please take a seat to be sorted."

Lindsey stepped forward wishing nobody was looking at her. She gently sat on the stool and placed the hat on her head. The hat slipped over her eyes and she was thrown into darkness. The hat made thinking noises in her ear for a few painful moments before it announced "GRYFFINDOR!" to the entire hall. Lindsey removed the hat and placed it on the stool. She then made her way to the table where Harry and company sat, although she sat herself on the end, by herself. She looked up to where her uncle was sitting and he looked positively furious. Lindsey shrugged it off. Soon, every last first year was sorted, the food had appeared, been eaten and disappeared just as quickly, and Dumbledore had made a small speech. Lindsey followed the brown haired girl and the red haired boy from the train to the Gryffindor dormitories where she learned the password was 'bat wing' and she must give the password to a lady in a picture. She finally went up to the girl's dormitory and collapsed on the last empty bed, right next to the bushy haired girl. She didn't even attempt conversation and drifted into dreamland, not wanting to wake up for classes the next day.

A/n: please review!


	9. Potions

Note from Me: So I started this story in high school some time and I'm not in college (my last year) so it's been a while. It's been so long I can't access my old account which is why it's posted here. I'm sorry for any inconsistencies or anything like that. I'm not exactly sure where I was originally taking this story but I guess I'll be taking it somewhere else now! Enjoy.

*****

When Lindsey woke up the next morning, the sun was streaming brilliantly through the window and the beds were empty. She sat up with a start. _I'm late! _ She jumped out of bed and frantically pulled on her uniform and robes. She then started filling her schoolbag, but had no idea what to prepare for or where to go next. The door of the dormitory burst open and the bushy haired girl came in and began putting on her shoes, having just come from the bathroom. There was a moment of awkward silence. Lindsey contemplated asking this girl what to do but she got the feeling that this girl did not like her for some reason. A few more moments of indecision passed before Lindsey finally said, "Um, sorry, do you know where we're supposed to go? I woke up terribly late."

"You're not really late," the girl answered. "Everyone just left for breakfast. In the Great Hall, were dinner and the sorting were last night." The bushy haired girl continued to fiddle with her shoe for a minute and then turned back to Lindsey who was staring at the door trying it see if she remembered how to get there. This school was much larger than SAA. "I'm going down if you want to come. You'll get your schedule at breakfast."

Lindsey smiled in relief. "Great. I don't think I could make it there myself." The brown-haired girl smiled briefly and started walking out the door. Lindsey jogged a little and caught up with her half way down the steps. Once they climbed through the portrait hole, Lindsey felt the need for conversation.

"I'm Lindsey by the way."

"I remember." The girl replied. Lindsey didn't know why this girl might possibly be acting so peculiarly.

"Right. Guess I'm the only transfer." Lindsey laughed. The other girl remained silent. "Sorry, I don't think I know your name."

"Hermione."

"Nice to meet you." Lindsey said, trying her hardest to be as polite as possible.

"You too." Hermione replied, rather ingenuinely. "Do you know what classes you passed into? Do you have OWLS in the United States?"

"Yeah, we do." Lindsey replied a little too excitedly. "I got an Outstanding in all of them."

"What kinds of classes do you take?" Hermione asked, seemingly a little bit more interested.

"Oh well, um, there's History and Herbology. Charms, Transfiguration, Care of Magical Creatures, Potions, Defense Against the Dark Arts – all the normal stuff. And then I also too Astronomy, Ancient Runes, and Arithmacy. But Potions is really my favorite and my best."

"It won't be your favorite here." Hermione replied. Lindsey gave her a weird look but didn't have a chance to ask why. "Looks like we'll be in the same classes pretty much."

"Cool." Lindsey smiled. Although Hermione was kind enough to show Lindsey to the Great Hall, she didn't seem to warm to her at all. Neither girl said a word to each other as they made their way down which made for an extremely awkward few minutes. When they reached the hall there the feast had been the night before, Hermione muttered a quick "here it is" and took off towards the crowded table. Lindsey took a deep breath. She had the feeling that a few dozen pairs of eyes were all on her as she gathered the strength to find a seat. The dread started sinking in as she wandered down the long table and couldn't find a single opening. There was one a little ways ahead but she desperately hoped not to have to take it. Since took another deep breath and resigned herself to a very awkward breakfast.

"Um, Hermione." Lindsey said very meekly, almost unheard by everyone. Hermione turned around and stared at her. "Is this seat taken?" Lindsey asked, feeling more and more awkward by the second. Hermione hesitated so Lindsey added, "There doesn't seem to be any other spaces."

"Go ahead. Sit." Hermione replied, making it all too clear that she didn't want Lindsey to sit there.

"Thanks." Lindsey said taking her seat. She gave a small but genuine smile to the two boys sitting across from them. Harry smiled back a little but the red-haired boy from the train just stared. Lindsey looked down at her plate and concentrated very hard on the eggs and toast. She probably looked stupid staring down like that but she didn't want to get onto Hermione's bad side at all since the girl already hated her for some reason.

"Lindsey," Harry said. Lindsey looked up but didn't say anything, "er, how was your first night?"

"It was good. Nothing too exciting." Lindsey replied. "This castle is huge, I'll never figure out where I'm going!"

"You'll get used to it." The redhead interjected. "I'm Ron by the way."

"Lindsey."

At that moment, McGonagall came and handed each of the four students a paper with their schedule on it, saving Lindsey from having to have more of an awkward conversation.

"Ugh, Double Potions this morning!" Ron exclaimed. Lindsey's mood lifted, that meant she could start her day off right and show everyone what she could do.

"I love Potions!" Lindsey exclaimed and all three looked at her like she had three heads. Lindsey recoiled just a bit. "I'm just really good at it."

"It wouldn't be so awful if it weren't for Snape." Ron commented and Lindsey could almost feel the distain in his voice. She and her uncle had decided to keep their relationship under the radar for as long as possible and Lindsey could see why now. She put her acting skills to the test.

"Is he the creepy one with the long hair?" she said looking up at the professors table searching for her uncle. When she found him, he was looking in their direction and she had the strangest feeling that he was angry with her about something. Then again who could ever tell with that man.

"The slimy git." Ron muttered.

"Yeah." Harry added. "That's the one. I'm fairly sure he's evil." Lindsey didn't respond but looked away from her uncle quickly. The death eaters' mask appeared in her head, thankful that her uncle wasn't surprise attacking her mind at that moment. She knew he wasn't evil yet sometimes she wasn't so sure. If Dumbledore said he wasn't evil, then he mustn't be. With all that Snape had taught Lindsey in terms of fighting off Dark Magic and teaching her to protect herself against the Death Eaters, there shouldn't be any doubt in Lindsey's mind that Snape was truly on Dumbledore's side. However, he was just so creepy and cold that Lindsey was always looking for signs that he was bad. She couldn't help also having a little bit of feelings against him when every time she thought about him she remembered seeing his mask which made her think of her parents.

"…Lindsey?" Harry's voice broke Lindsey's thoughts.

"What? Sorry, I was, sorry what did you say?" Lindsey asked.

"I just thought you'd like to take your letter." He said indicating the owl that was sitting with its leg sticking out for Lindsey.

"Oh, yeah. Thanks. " Lindsey blushed. "Hi there Toto." Lindsey cooed taking the parchment from the little brown owl's leg and patting her lovingly on the head.

"Fluffy?" Ron mocked.

"Yeah, my friend got her when she was eight and obsessed with the Wizard of Oz. She really had wanted a dog but her parents thought the owl would be more helpful."

"What's the Wizard of Oz?" Ron asked.

"Oh, it's a movie. Well it was actually a book first and then it was made into a movie about this girl who goes to this magical place called Oz and she had to find the wizard of oz to be able to get back home to her farm in Kansas but it turns out that the wizard is a hack and a fake and is no more than a lost Kansasian himself. It's wonderful." Lindsey explained.

"Oh. A movie is the thing that's like a portrait but it always does the same thing." Ron said. "And it tells a story."

"Yeah, that's the one." Lindsey replied.

"Ms. Hathaway." Professor McGonagall appeared behind Lindsey who jumped a little at the sound of her voice.

"Yes ma'am?" She responded.

"Would you mind coming to my office with me before your first lesson?" Professor asked, with a tone that made Lindsey wonder what she had done wrong.

"Of course," Lindsey answered, "I mean, I don't mind going to your office."

"All right, come along." She said and Lindsey sprang up and followed McGonagall out of the Great Hall, really nervous the entire way out.

"I wonder what that's about." Ron mused watching the two women leave. "I mean she couldn't possibly be in trouble the first day, only Fred and George can manage that usually."

"I don't know." Harry added, thinking about the new girl. He couldn't help but wonder what her story was and where her mind had gone when she had spaced out like she had. "Hey Hermione, have you talked to her much?"

"No." Hermione said, seeming very stern and cold.

"Oh." Harry didn't really have the energy to figure out what Hermione said it that way or what she was thinking. Soon enough the three of them made their way do the dungeons and lined up outside of the Potions room. Harry kept watching for Lindsey, hoping she would be able to find her way after meeting with McGonagall. When Snape appeared and ushered all of the students into the room, Lindsey still hadn't shown up. About five minutes into the class, the door opened and McGonagall appeared with Lindsey in toe.

"Professor Snape, I'm terribly sorry I kept Ms. Hathaway in my office which is why she is late." Professor McGonagall stated in her regal, upright manner.

"It's fine, however I hope Ms. Hathaway will be able to keep up with the lesson." Professor Snape sneered just has he would with any student.

"Yes, sir." Lindsey replied softly.

"Take a seat Ms. Hathaway." Professor Snape commanded, McGonagall gave Lindsey the smallest of smiles and Lindsey turned to find an empty seat. There was one left. The one next to Draco. Lindsey heaved the smallest of sighs before silently making her way to the desk and pulling out her things. Draco continued to watch her with a creepy smirk on his face. Harry felt bad for the girl as he watched Draco stare at her like a piece of meat. Lindsey behaved very cordially the entire class, keeping her extreme distaste for the boy under wraps though Harry could tell she disliked him.

Throughout the lesson, Professor Snape treated Lindsey like any other student, not picking on her as much as he did Harry or Hermione but not showing any favoritism like he did Draco. It was clear to him by the end of the class that Lindsey's abilities outshone the rest of her year and possibly the year above her. She knew the delicacies of her ingredients and handled them precisely the way they should be handled, the way a potions master would handle them. She had earned Gryffindor points which was a nice change from the points they usually lost in Potions class.

"So, tonight do you want to maybe meet up? You can help me with my Potions homework." Draco was saying as Lindsey hurriedly packed her things away at the end of class. "I mean I know you're in Gryffindor which is very unfortunate for you but I think I could get past that for…"

"Lindsey, do you need any help?" Harry said, unsure of what came over him. He just didn't want to see the poor girl suffering.

"That would be great. How do we get to the common room from here? I have a break between classes." Lindsey smiled. She was so grateful for the savior. Draco, on the other hand, scowled. Lindsey and Harry swept out of the classroom without a word to either Draco or Professor Snape.

"You're my hero." Lindsey laughed.

"No problem. I saw you two in Diagon Alley not too long ago." Harry started saying and didn't know where he wanted to continue.

"Yeah, my, un" Lindsey stopped unsure whether it was safe to say uncle even but supposed it probably wouldn't do any harm, "uncle thought it would be a good idea to have classmate show me around and help me get my things since he is always busy."

"Oh, so you two aren't friends then." Harry replied, joking a little.

"Absolutely not. He is an awful person and I only spent a few hours with him and I know that." Lindsey replied.

"I was kidding." Harry said.

"Oh, right." Lindsey said, blushing and laughing. The two made their way out of the dungeons with Draco and Snape both scowling after them


	10. On Loneliness, In Sadness

Over the next week, Lindsey really shone in every class. She was always one of the first with her hand up and generally had the correct answers to the teachers' questions. The problem was that she didn't seem to be able to make friends. Hermione always glared at her in classes, a glare that clearly displayed her distaste for the girl. Ron always seemed to be glaring at Hermione, or glaring in the direct opposite direction of Hermione and Harry seemed very stuck in the middle of the two. Lavender seemed to like to make fun of Lindsey's "American" fashion sense and looks to her friends who all giggled along and agreed whether they actually agreed or not. The only one who ever really seemed to talk to her was Malfoy but that was a far from welcome friendship. She hadn't even had a chance to talk to Uncle Severus. She would just stay after in class to say a quick hello but she didn't think that publicly associating herself with the Gryffindors' most hated professor was not a way to get out of the friendless slump. She was still having trouble figuring out the castle and had just continued to leave a good chunk of time to get to classes so she could get lost and turned around and still be on time. The time away from dance and socializing left her with nothing to do but study, something she'd never really had to do before. She was getting very restless. If she wasn't in her sixth year and a foreigner, she'd consider trying to start a dance team here. However, as much resistance she had gotten at SAA for it, she'd get ten times more at Hogwarts and she knew that. America was much more progressive in terms of integrating and acclimating the muggle lifestyle with the magical one. Still, she was bored and she missed her friends and feeling like it was her school. She used to be the big fish in a smaller pond and now she's drowning in a sea of unfamiliar unfriendliness.

As the last few brilliant rays of sunlight began disappearing over the trees of the Forbidden Forest, Lindsey began to make her way back to the castle. She had taken to running laps around the lake, sure that people were watching her from the castle but frankly she didn't care. She stopped outside the front doors to stretch before going inside. Between two songs, she swore she heard someone or something not too far from her. She turned her music off and listened for a minute. Lindsey decided it was nothing and shook her head. _I'm getting paranoid_, she thought to herself. She headed into the huge hallway finding it extremely ironic how much she was not looking forward to tomorrow being Saturday. Normally she'd revel in the day off from school but with no friends, she would not know what to do with herself. Not a moment later, Lindsey heard a second pair of footsteps in the eerily empty entrance way. She slowed her walk giving her time to sneakily pull her wand out of its hiding place.

"Whoa!" Harry yelled in surprise when Lindsey whipped around in front of him, pointing her wand at him defensively. There was a moment of complete stillness before Lindsey dropped her fighting stance.

"Oh gosh!" She said apologetically. "Harry! You scared me!"

"Sorry." Harry said, wondering why she was so jumpy and hoping she hadn't seen him take his invisibility cloak off.

"I just thought I heard a noise and I didn't…" she said clutching her chest to try to keep her heart from leaping out of it. "Where did you come from anyway?"

"Uh," Harry thought quickly, "I was visiting Hagrid's hut."

"Oh." Lindsey accepted this. "That's the one by the forest right? I didn't see you out there?"

"I know a shortcut." Harry lied. He definitely didn't want others knowing about his cloak. "You…uh…I saw you running out there."

"Oh, yeah." Lindsey smiled and tried to hide her music player. "I like running."

Harry nodded. They were stopped in the Entrance Hall which was surprisingly deserted. "Well, where are you headed?"

"Oh, I…" Lindsey stumbled. She'd been planning to visit Uncle Severus or at least stop by his office to see if he was around but she didn't want to say so. She decided to go back to the dormitory and shower first. "I'm going back to the tower to shower. Hey that rhymes!" She giggled quietly to herself. "Sorry, I like rhyming and alliteration."

"That's kind of strange." Harry replied. "I'll walk with you back."

"Okay. Although I think I got the hang of this place now so if you weren't going back…" Lindsey started saying although she was clearly lying. With all the changing staircases she very rarely ended up where she planned and very frequently ended up wandering the halls until she saw something she knew. The portraits hated her when they saw her coming because she inevitably had to stop and ask them for directions, multiple times.

"I was going to head back anyway. Try to get some homework done." Harry replied.

"Great!" Lindsey said. They walked a few minutes in silence, very awkward silence since Lindsey assumed Harry didn't like her but was only being kind. Lindsey began turning down a hallway only to see Harry not follow her, standing and laughing a little instead.

"You really got the hang of this place, huh?" Harry smirked.

"Uh, I thought I did….maybe I lied." Lindsey sighed.

"It's this way." Harry said pointing down another hall. Lindsey just looked down and followed. She decided it best just to stay a step behind Harry and let him make all the directional changes. After another few moments of silence, Harry broke that. "I still get lost every now and then if I'm not really paying attention." He added, his voice not actually emotive, Lindsey couldn't tell what his motives were.

"If the staircases just wouldn't change all the time, I might be able to figure it out." Lindsey vented, letting her frustration show a little.

"They don't move at your old school." Harry asked, honestly curious.

"No, they are completely stationary as stairs were meant to be." Lindsey replied. They continued, mostly in silence until they reached the Fat Lady.

"Ah Harry!" She said warmly and turned not so warmly to Lindsey, "And the yank." Harry looked at Lindsey who looked down-hearted.

"God Save the Queen" Harry responded and the portrait swung open to allow Harry into the common room and Lindsey scurried in after, afraid the Fat Lady would purposely swing shut and lock her out. Before Lindsey could say a quick thank you or goodbye, Harry had been greeted by a frazzled looking Hermione. Lindsey snuck away quickly to shower.

"Harry!" Hermione said, "Where have you been?" She accosted him.

"I went to visit Hagrid." He replied shortly. Over Hermione's shoulder, he watched the raven haired girl sneak away quickly with a look of sadness he recognized. He tried to skirt around Hermione but she was too persistent and the girl had already disappeared around the bend of the stairs, which Harry knew he would never be able to follow.

"I just can't STAND him." Hermione exploded. She dragged Harry over to two armchairs in a corner and began ranting about something stupid Ron had said or done or not done. Harry didn't really care. After about fifteen minutes, he saw Lindsey come back down from the girl's dormitory with her school bag. She crossed the common room and walked straight out of the portrait hole and all Harry could think about was where she was going, what she was doing and who she was. The most likely explanation was that she was going to the library to study. After all, she was very bright, almost brighter than Hermione but he would never say it. With all her knowledge, she must spend lots of time in the library like Hermione does. Harry couldn't help but wonder about the air of sadness and loneliness that seemed to be hiding behind her bubbly, awkward, apologetic smile. He didn't think anyone would notice it but there was just something familiar about the little glimpses he saw and he wanted to know more. Lost in his thoughts, he directed his gaze back to Hermione's face, only to find her staring at him and looking pretty angry.

"Harry, have you been listening?" Hermione asked, completely angry and a little hurt.

"Er…I…" Harry tried to think of what she had said. Something about Ron being stupid. He took too long and Hermione let out a frustrated "hmph" and stormed off muttering about insensitive boys. Harry stared after her but his mind strayed to Lindsey once again.

"Hey Harry!" Ron practically shouted across the room, having seen Hermione storm off. "A real nut job that one." He said pointing in the direction she had left in. "Whatever she said I did, or didn't do, it's not true mate. Can you believe her?" Harry just nodded, having nothing to say. "This came for you by the way." Ron handed over a small piece of parchment. "Is it a secret love note?" Ron joked. Harry opened it and immediately recognized Dumbledore's neat, loopy handwriting.

Please join me in Professor Snape's office at 8PM.

Albus

"Oh, a secret mission. Even better." Ron exclaimed having read the note over Harry's shoulder. "I wonder why it's in Snape's office." Harry looked around for a clock, only to see it was quarter to 8.

"I've gotta run." Harry said, running up to the dormitory to get his cloak. He sprinted through the castle, taking as many passageways and shortcuts as possible. He bounded down the stairs to the dungeon with a minute left and clipped so fast around a corner he had no time to prevent himself from running headfirst into two solid bodies, a certain blond-haired boy he hated and a black-haired girl with whom he was intrigued. Malfoy fell on his behind and skidded a good foot across the floor while Lindsey was able to maintain her footing and Harry stumbled backward a few steps but stayed upright.

"Watch it Potter!" Malfoy yelled from his stop on the ground and attempted to get up with dignity.

"Sorry." Harry muttered between breaths, he directed his apology to Lindsey, ignoring Malfoy completely.

"It's okay." She said, looking down. She seemed embarrassed to be caught like she was.

"I've gotta run." Harry said and continued to Snape's office door which was slightly ajar.

"That stupid mudblood lover." Malfoy said, having finally gotten to his feet, his voice full of hate.

"I would greatly appreciate it if you didn't use that word around me ever again." Lindsey snapped. It was a sore subject.

"Don't tell me you are a mudblood sympathizer too." Malfoy said, in all seriousness, as if it was the end of the world. Lindsey didn't feel like dignifying him with a response and instead turned around as fiercely as possible wishing her hair was longer so it could whip him in the face. She walked off without looking back even when Malfoy called after her. This kid just never seemed to get it that she wanted nothing to do with him. She found herself frequently in his presence, like he was following her or something.

In her anger, Lindsey walked through the castle like she owned the place. The few people she passed moved quickly out of her way. The trouble was, she didn't own the place and she didn't have a clue where she was. Her anger subsided as she found herself in a corridor on the seventh floor. Her anger dissipated into tears, tears which had been a long time coming. She didn't know where she was, she didn't know what she was doing and to top it off, she didn't have anyone to talk to about it. She leaned her back against the stone wall and dropped her bag on the floor. With her face buried in her hands, she cried. She cried for her parents who she hadn't cried much for because she was trying to be strong like they were. She cried for the uncle who wouldn't get to know her and the fear that uncle instilled in her no matter how much she tried to pretend he didn't. She cried for her friends who were too busy at SAA to contact her and seemed to be living their lives perfectly fine without her. She cried for the attitudes of people like that Malfoy kid that tried to stop her from doing the things that she loved to do. She cried for herself, clamming up in classes because people didn't like her. She cried for the life she could be leading which was nowhere near the life she was currently leading. And she cried for the Dark One who had never haunted her life before. She slowly melted to the floor, crumpling into a ball. She had no idea how long she'd been there or when she would be getting in trouble for being out to late or why no one had passed or how she was gonna get back to the tower. Her sobs slowed, and her breath started to try to even itself out. In the quiet that came with the end of her tears, she heard footsteps coming from around the corner and heard Hermione's frenzied voice, followed by Harry's cool voice. The last thing she wanted was to be discovered with a tearstained, splotchy face on the ground, lost. She looked around and saw a door. She didn't really care where it led. She ducked into the room and got the door shut just in time for the voices to pass, however she didn't really care whether they did or not because the room she entered was too….perfect.

There was a large, beautiful chandelier hanging from the ceiling, the light from which was reflected in the wall of mirrors and really made the room simply glow. Opposite the wall of mirrors, a barre was attached to the wall, just under beautiful windows. The wooden floor was the perfect finish and from somewhere to be seen, beautiful piano music was filling the room. She slowly and cautiously stepped further into the room and discovered a wall full of any kind of dance shoe imaginable and a corner with big floor cushions and a puffy cushion meant to be a chair. The room was otherwise empty. It was heaven. She examined each shoe, only to discover that each was her exact size. She couldn't resist the pink pointe shoes and quickly laced them on her feet. As she tested them out, she realized that they were already broken into her foot. The music quickly changed to the balcony pas de deux from Romeo and Juliet, one of Lindsey's absolute favorite not only piece of ballet choreography but also music. She let herself get carried away but music, forgetting all she'd been crying about and letting the music fill her completely. Romeo and Juliet had been the first professional ballet her parents took her to but she didn't think about that. She didn't look at herself in the mirror least she see her red, blotchy eyes and remember her sadness. She floated around the room and never wanted to the music to end. When it did, she opened her eyes to the beautiful room; half expecting someone to be angrily staring back at her but the room was still empty. The music shifted again and she continued to dance. She danced for she didn't know how many minutes, or hours. When she finally felt she should get back, the moon outside the windows seemed high. She figured it must be late. With great sadness she took off the tap shoes she'd switched to and made her way to the door, having put the pointe shoes in her bag. As the door of the room snapped shut behind her, the sadness she'd felt on the floor merely inches from her rushed back yet a bit of the serenity she'd felt while moving across the floor remained. She wouldn't try to find the room again for the rest of the weekend, for the fear that it had been a dream or that she wouldn't find it. However she did note the tapestry on the wall opposite her with dancing trolls which was too appropriate.

She returned to the tower with fewer detours than usual and walked into what she thought was an empty common room. She didn't see that Harry was still up, sitting in a chair in a distant, shadowy corner. He didn't say anything as he watched Lindsey cross the common room, humming something he didn't know. She seemed to him, more graceful and a little more at peace however her eyes still looked a little red and puffy. When Lindsey was just about to disappear up the stairs, Harry called out, "Goodnight" and Lindsey let out the smallest of shrieks and jumped from the first step to the ground.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." Harry said, having scared her now twice in the same night.

"I just, I didn't see you there, again." She said, once again clutching at her heart.

"Couldn't sleep." Harry said to explain why he was still up long after everyone – or almost everyone – had been to bed. His mind had been racing with the events of the evening.

"Got lost." Lindsey said, answering an unasked question as to why she was out so late. "Well, goodnight." She said to the Boy Who Lived, the boy who had suffered much more than she was.

"Good night." Harry repeated but he secretly wanted to hold her. He couldn't think of anything much to say so he let her go her way to bed.


	11. The Ice Begins to Thaw

"…and I look forward to reading all of your essays on the Everlasting Elixirs due next class." Snape smirked as his sixth year students packed up their bags. He watched as his niece gradually put her things away, apparently in no rush. He waited until there were as few students left as possible before he said in as cool a voice as ever "Miss Hathaway, may I see you for a moment." It wasn't a question. Lindsey looked up from her packed bag with a slightly startled look and Severus couldn't blame her. The two had hardly had any contact since the start of term. The last few students, the Weasley boy and Potter among them, looked from Severus to Lindsey and quickly scurried out of the room. Lindsey made her way to his desk. With the last of the students gone, Severus waved his wand to shut the door to his dungeon classroom.

"Yes Professor?" Lindsey asked timidly, unsure if they were alone enough to let on their relationship.

"How are you doing Lindsey?" Severus asked. His voice remained cold and his face expressionless.

"Fine, professor." Lindsey replied as any student might before their professor. She glanced around and saw that the room was empty and the door shut however she still didn't know how to behave. She had thought that they were getting closer and more comfortable during their Occlumency lessons over the summer, well as close as you could get with her stone-cold uncle. However, since it had been a month or so since the start of term and they hadn't interacted outside of class, she didn't want to push anything.

"The other professors tell me that you've been pretty quiet in all your lessons." Severus's replied with his cold voice, which sounded judgmental even to him. He did know how to change that though.

"Oh," Lindsey replied, "I just didn't want to make waves with the other students. I'd prefer to just, you know, get by and not draw any attention." Lindsey thought about how stupid it sounded. "I draw enough attention away being the only transfer and the only American."

"I see." Severus said. "You're a very bright girl."

Lindsey smiled despite the harshness of her uncle's voice. She could see that his intentions were to compliment her though his voice suggested otherwise. "Thank you, sir."

"You should feel able to express your brilliance in class." Severus struggled for a way to tell say what he wanted to say. Lindsey smiled again and Severus understood that she was trying to tell him that she understood what he was saying, but he knew she didn't understand it all. "Have you made friends?"

"Um…" Lindsey didn't want to distress her uncle so she thought lying was best. "A few. I study a lot though in case there's something I didn't learn at Salem that the Hogwarts kids all know." Severus looked at his niece for a moment and then she felt him trying to push his way into her mind. She was ready and pushed him right back out.

"Good girl." He replied with a smirk. "You better get to your next lesson, don't want to be late." He dismissed her as abruptly as he'd asked her to stay. She nodded and turned to go. As her hand found the door handle, Severus called out, "You should go to Hogsmeade this weekend. They have excellent butterbeer. And it'll be good for you to explore and be with your classmates."

Lindsey turned back with a smile and asked, "What's butterbeer?"

"You'll just have to go and try some." Severus replied, knowing he'd not be able to explain it.

"Okay." Lindsey replied, thinking for a moment, "I will. Thanks professor!" She said before opening the door to a thankfully empty corridor and leaving her uncle alone. The smallest, inaudible sigh escaped from Severus's mouth as he watched her go.

That night, as she had done frequently since she first found the room, Lindsey left the common room under the pretense of going to the library. Not that anyone really noticed or cared as far as she knew. It just so happened that as she crawled out of the portrait hole, Harry was rounding the corner into the corridor coming back from another dreadful lesson with Snape. They seemed to be progressing far too slowly. Harry wanted to say something to Lindsey but didn't know what, so he just watched her go assuming from the bulging bag that she was headed to the library. He was amazed that there was someone in the world more attached to the library than Hermione, who he was currently avoiding often. But as Harry watched from afar, he saw Lindsey turn down the wrong corridor to get to the library. Harry's first thought was to correct her, knowing she had been having trouble figuring out the school. Instead, he decided to follow her under the invisibility cloak he'd recently made a habit of bringing everywhere. He followed her for a while as she wandered but didn't seem lost at all. Before Harry knew it, they were on the seventh floor but they weren't alone. Professor Snape appeared almost out of the blue. Snape, unaware of Harry clearly, looked at Lindsey who was not facing him and did not hear him coming. There was a look on Snape's face that intrigued Harry. He felt as though he'd seen it before but he couldn't place it. It was a very Snape look, therefore seemingly emotionless, however deep down there was great emotion. Harry was momentarily stunned by this strange occurrence, just long enough for Snape to run into him. Harry stumbled backwards, tripping on his invisibility cloak and falling on his butt, his cloak falling away underneath him, exposing him fully. Snape's mysterious expression turned to pure anger, which was very familiar to Harry.

"Potter!" He snarled in shock. Harry scrambled to his feet, grabbing his cloak and stuffing it into his robes as quickly as possible. Snape knew about his cloak because of Dumbledore however Lindsey didn't and he knew she was bound to look to see what had caused the commotion. "What are you doing here?"

"I…er…I was…lost?" Harry couldn't think too quickly as it began to dawn on him when he'd seen that look before.

"I highly doubt that Potter." Snape replied with as much venom as possible. "I would think someone as sneaky as you would know the castle well." Snape glanced down the hallway but Lindsey was already gone. He lowered his voice to a barely audible whisper, "And I would think Dumbledore's golden boy wouldn't want to be putting himself in such risk wandering the castle at night under his cloak and would spend more time on his lacking Occlumency." Snape's eyes moved from Potter's face to the empty corridor behind him, "And furthermore, whatever you think you are doing spying on our American transfer should be stopped immediately. If I catch you sneaking around her again or if I hear one word that you've done anything horrible to our new student, you will be spending every evening for the rest of the year in detention and trust me, detention with me can get very ugly." Snape threatened in the heat of the moment. Harry looked up at him in shock and awe. Snape continued to glare down at him. "Do you understand me Potter?" He spit out.

"Ye-yes professor." Harry stuttered, still stunned at the Professor's extreme reaction. He was too stunned to try to deny following the girl.

"Now, I have pressing matters to attend to tonight so I can't be bothered with you but I expect you to spend the rest of the night practicing and I expect to see a great improvement in you at our next lesson." Snape said, returning to his normal voice and composure.

"Yes sir." Harry replied. Snape gave him one last icy stare before continuing down the corridor. Harry stayed still as possible until he was sure Snape was gone. Unsure of what to do and what to make of the encounter, Harry found an empty classroom and went in to think it over and practice.

Lindsey had heard a loud crash behind her and jumped nearly two feet into the air. She looked back and saw her uncle standing over Harry Potter who was sitting on the floor. Her uncle looked furious and Harry looked stunned. She decided it best to flee before getting into trouble. She sped as quickly and quietly as possible to her destination, her dance room. She got in and shut the door behind her, listening for a few minutes to see if anyone was coming after her. She sighed in relieve when no sound came from the corridor. She dropped her bag and took several deep breaths, taking in the peace that the dance room filled her with every time she'd been back. She took of her robes to reveal the leotard and tights she was getting very good at hiding and laced up her pointe shoes. A beautiful piano melody filled the room as she went through some simple exercises to warm up and strengthen her feet and legs. She danced for an hour or more, her heart, already light from her uncle's talk this morning, continued to lighten until she felt as if the world was as it should be again. She completely forgot that she was in a foreign, unfriendly country or that she was an orphan or that she hadn't heard from her friends in two and a half weeks or that her only relation was a scary, cold man. She danced away her worries and lost herself in the music, the movements and her reflection in the mirror. When she was in this room dancing was the only time that she looked at herself in a mirror and actually saw someone she recognized. Usually she saw a shell, a half-version of herself looking back at her. She spent less time getting ready because the person that looked back at her in the mirror scared her too much. But here, in the light of the great chandelier, she was herself, whole and healthy. It usually took all she had to make herself leave this room and she often considered sleeping here. However she knew that someone might notice her gone and the fear of her secret sanctuary being discovered was much greater than her desire to never leave it. The music changed and the happiness she felt instantly melted away slightly. Lindsey had to flick her eyes away from the mirror and her reflection. The overwhelming emotions that hit her with each note of the wordless melody began to weigh heavy and Lindsey quickly threw her robes on, not bothering to hide her leotard much. It was the song her dad had written for her, mere weeks before he died. She had planned to create a dance, for him and her over the summer and so had listened to it almost non-stop until she found out they had died. She hadn't heard it since because she couldn't face the song and the promises it held. In her haste to leave, she hadn't bothered to change her shoes or check to see if there was anyone in the hallway.

As Harry left the classroom, with the need to tell someone the events of the night which just got more and more strange, he saw someone running, almost floating, down the corridor. He recognized the American transfer but not the shoes on her feet. She was too fast for him and he didn't feel up to chasing her. When he got back, he found Ron and Hermione in a shouting match and decided he wouldn't interrupt with his stories. He glanced around but didn't see Lindsey so he sighed and headed back to bed.

The next morning Lindsey awoke with a surprising light heart. The sun shone brightly across her bed and she could sense that the first of the true fall weather was upon them. Fall was her favorite season. She dressed excitedly in the best of her fall apparel but her excitement gradually ebbed away as she made her way to the common room and realized that everyone would have someone to go to Hogsmeade with but her. She put a book in her bag so that she wouldn't have to sit and stare blankly while enjoying the butterbeer her uncle had told her to get.

Harry had told Ron and Hermione about the run in with Snape and the strange behavior of the new girl while they were waiting in the Entrance Hall waiting to be let out of the castle and allowed to go to Hogsmeade.

"But why was Snape so angry about Lindsey? He didn't even know you were following her, it just kinda looked like it." Ron said.

"It does seem rather odd for Snape to care about a Gryffindor." Hermione agreed.

"Maybe he's in love with her." Ron hypothesized.

"Ron that is the stupidest thing I've ever heard." Hermione replied. "Snape would not be in love with a student."

"You never know he is slimy enough." Ron replied. The two went into another huge scoff and Harry tuned them out. His mind raced as he watched Lindsey descend the stairs toward the crowd of students. She was always alone, he noticed.

The plan was set in Harry's mind and Ron and Hermione couldn't have made it any easier. The entire day the two fought until Harry couldn't take it anymore and ducked away on his own. He walked down the high street looking at other students laughing and joking merrily. Everyone happy to be out of the castle for the day. Harry's heart skipped a beat anytime he thought he caught a glimpse of her raven colored hair whip around the corner or her rare smile through a window. Harry, chilled by the crisp fall wind, sauntered into the Three Broomsticks alone, ready to enjoy a nice and quiet butterbeer to keep him warm on the walk back to Hogwarts. The second he walked into the Three Broomsticks, Harry spotted Lindsey at a table close to the fireplace reading a book. He watched Rosmerta bring her a drink. Rosmerta said something to her and Lindsey smiled a beautiful, bubbly smile and said something to which both girls laughed. Harry was momentarily paralyzed as he saw his chance. Harry ordered a butterbeer and slowly made his way to her table. It almost felt like the room went completely silent and all eyes were on him though he knew it wasn't true. He noticed Ron sitting with Ginny complaining loudly at a table in the corner and didn't see Hermione anywhere.

"Er..hi." Harry said, standing awkwardly next to her table, directly in front of her.

"Hi." Lindsey replied, looking up from her book. She was all at once friendly and on edge.

"Do you," Harry started and became very nervous, "might if I sit with you?"

"Not at all." Lindsey replied and offered him the same friendly smile that had stopped him in the doorway. She shut her book and pushed it to the side. Harry had talked to her before but now he couldn't think of things to say.

"Good book?" He asked, pointing to the book she's just closed.

"I guess. Just some extra reading." Lindsey replied. She too seemed nervous but her nerves made her even more bubbly and only slightly awkward. "I'm just terrified that I'm behind everyone or that I haven't learned what you all have learned so I've been doing a lot of supplemental reading to make sure I'm on the same page."

"Oh you shouldn't worry about that." Harry said. "You are smarter than any of us. Well, except maybe Hermione, but even then you're giving her a run."

"Thanks." Lindsey said, looking down at her hands. "I don't think she likes me much."

"Hermione is intense." Harry said, "and can get very jealous when it comes to academics. Just give her some time to warm up to you." Harry smiled as he remembered the incident on Halloween their first year when they first had become friends.

"Okay, I'll take your word for it." Lindsey replied, staring at her clutched hands with an air of resolute sadness. There was silence and Harry pondered what to say next. He wanted to ask her about herself but he didn't want to pry and wasn't sure where to start even if he could. Lindsey broke the silence.

"So, Harry, this is probably a ridiculous question and you've probably been asked like a million times but what is it like to be you?" Lindsey asked, looking up expectantly yet at the same time cautiously. She wasn't sure if she would lose brownie points for acknowledging Harry's fame or if Harry would write her off as some fan girl and never talk to her again but she had bigger motives for asking.

"What?" Harry was surprised, but then again he shouldn't be. He is the famous Harry Potter, the boy who lived. "So people know about me in America too?"

"Yes of course. Although you aren't as big there as you are here because we weren't really plagued with the Dark One as you guys in Britain were. Or are I suppose." Lindsey said. Harry couldn't help but see that she had strikingly blue eyes which said so much. Right now, they were timidly smiling; friendly but shy and nervous.

"Well," Harry replied. "It's weird I guess. I'm famous for something I didn't really do or have control over." Harry didn't like talking about it and would prefer to be talking about Lindsey. "It's weird at school a lot of the time and it makes simple things rather difficult. I'm glad to have Ron and Hermione though because they are cool about it and it's nice to have someone to confide in who isn't all about your name or your scar, you know."

"Oh." Lindsey said and the smile on her face faded but the smile in her eyes remained. "I didn't mean to pry, I just…." Lindsey took a deep breath and said the thing she had been meaning to ask for a while, "I just…" it sounded so stupid to say and she wasn't sure if she should be trusting with Harry. As she had no one else who even talked to her, she didn't have much of a choice. "…well…you see I just lost my parents and it's been kind of hard and I know that you never got any time with your parents which I haven't decided if it's worse or better than having them and knowing them and then losing them but…" Lindsey realized that came out wrong and she was rambling like she always does. She took a deep breath "…I don't really have anyone to talk to so I guess I just wanted to … I don't know." There was a moment and Lindsey was looking away from Harry, toward the fire. She smiled and let out the smallest of laughs, "I shouldn't have said anything. I'm sorry." Harry wasn't sorry, he was surprised. Still smiling she looked back to Harry. She looked him right in the face and laughed apologetically. "I'm sorry, I can be really awkward at times. Let's talk about something else…mmm so have you finished the Potion's essay yet?"

The mention of Potions reminded Harry of Snape's peculiar behavior and why he had wanted to talk to Lindsey in the first place. "I haven't even started." He replied.

"Me either but I was thinking of going back soon to work on it." She replied, looking down at her hands once more.

"How did you lose them?" Harry asked. Lindsey seemed startled but didn't look up from her hands. She half smiled a little and shrugged a bit.

"Um..they said there was an attack on our house but they wouldn't tell me much else." Lindsey smiled though Harry could see the pain hiding behind it.

"Is that why you had to come to Hogwarts? Why couldn't you stay at your other school?" Harry asked. He had kind of stopped caring if he was prying too much.

"Yeah. Well, I only have one other relative that I had never met before. He lives in England and they thought it would be the best idea to send me to him which meant I had to come here." Lindsey answered, feeling that that was enough information to satisfy Harry's curiosity without revealing her unpopular uncle.

"Oh." Harry replied. "You're lucky you go time with your parents though. You know what they look like, what they are like, if they are nice people. You have memories of them."

"Yeah, I suppose you are right but it also makes it hard. Especially then spending the summer with my uncle who couldn't be more opposite from my parents. Who did you live with by the way?" Lindsey asked. Then took it back, "Sorry you don't have to tell me if you don't want to. Or can't. I just…the thought struck me."

"I lived with my awful aunt and uncle and cousin. They're muggles and they never told me about magic. They hated me."

"Oh I'm sure they didn't hate you." Lindsey said.

"Oh yes they do. I used to sleep under the staircase."

"Oh." Lindsey replied. "I'm sorry. My uncle isn't nearly that bad. I mean I got a bed and a room and everything."

"It's okay. I guess I didn't know different so I was used to it." Harry replied. "Ron's family feels much more like family to me than they do though."

"I can imagine anyone would feel like family compared to someone who would let a kid live under a staircase." Lindsey replied imagining awful things in her head. "I'm very lucky I guess. My uncle is just very cold and hard to understand but he tries." She smiled, remembering his concern yesterday. She made it a note in her head to thank him for the advice on the butter beer, and hopefully tell him she might have a new friend.

"Do you still talk to your friends in the US?" Harry asked. She seemed so lonely all the time.

"Every now and then but they're pretty busy with school and Quidditch games and competitions." Lindsey sighed. She missed her dance team and her best friends.

"Have you made many friends here?" Harry asked, unsure of how to put it.

"Not really."

"I noticed." Harry confessed. "You're always alone."

Lindsey let out another laugh-sigh and smiled. "Being American is apparently a bad thing here. But I keep busy."

"At the library?" Harry replied.

"Yeah." Lindsey said. "And other places." Lindsey instantly regretted saying that. She wasn't ready to share her secret room yet. "Like running by the lake."

"Right." Harry said, but couldn't help but wonder what she wasn't saying, what she had been doing yesterday. He decided that it wasn't the time to ask. As the fire roared on magically and the sun began setting, Harry and Lindsey continued talking, generally about lighter things, as they finished their butterbeers. Harry couldn't help thinking that he couldn't remember the last time he'd laughed so much, or so genuinely. It had been a while. Lindsey was quick to lighten the mood. They realized that they were going to be late getting back the Hogwarts and half ran back to the castle, still laughing, talking and joking around.

When Lindsey got back to the common room, she remembered the mental note she made to talk to her uncle. She grabbed a piece of parchment and quickly scribbled her note.

_Dear Professor Uncle,_

_Thanks for the recommendation to go to Hogsmeade and try the butterbeer. It was DELICIOUS! I had a great day and I think I've made a new friend! I just thought I'd say thanks and let you know that I appreciate you looking after me. Also, I really enjoy your class though it could be a little warmer down there. Hope you had a great day too and maybe made it out to Hogsmeade for some butterbeer as well. All the best!_

_Love,_

_Lindsey_


	12. Worlds Colliding

Harry picked himself off the floor in a cold sweat. It was now his eighth session with Snape in the dungeon learning Occlumency and he didn't seem to be making any progress. It didn't help that Snape was as cold if not colder than ever.

"Useless Potter." Snape spat. "Get up. You have to practice. Are you practicing clearing your mind? My ne-cat got this faster than you!" He'd almost slipped up and revealed his relation. Snape tried not to panic but the memories Harry was allowing him to see kept bringing Snape back to the same thought. Harry kept thinking of his unfortunate neice. From the snippets Snape got a glimpse of, it appeared that his least favorite student and his neice were forming quite a bond. Snape wished she'd go for someone less arrogant, like maybe young Malfoy. "Got yourself a little thing for our Yankee girl huh Potter? A womanizer just like your father." Snape filled his voice with as much believeable venom as possible. Harry snarled quietly with his back turned.

"My father was not a womanizer." Harry responded. "It's not your business anyway."

"Dumbledore will love to hear that his golden boy would rather flirt with new girls than practice these skills that will save his life. Shall we?"

Harry swallowed hard. These lessons were getting more and more difficult. As the lessons continued, Harry found it hard to surpress his thoughts when all he could think of is how much he hated Snape. And hate is one of the strongest emotions, next to love. Harry tried his best to muster the power to surpress his emotions but he'd already been at it for more than an hour without progress and he was at his nerves' end with Snape. In his confused, focused state Harry heard the door to Snape's office open and his reflexes told him to react.

"Legilimens." Snaped yelled while Harry raised his wand and shouted "Protego." And there was confusion of real time events and memories flooding Harry's head. Somehow he was seeing things that weren't his memory. It first showed a girl, about sixteen, playing on the lawn near the lake at Hogwarts. She had jet black hair and smiling eyes. She was running from a boy with jet black, long hair whom Harry recognized. It was Sirius. Harry couldn't believe his eyes.

"Sirius!" The girl giggled and squealed as she collapsed under Sirius. She could hardly speak from lack of air as she was being tickled.

"Hey!" A new female voice called out. It was Lily, Harry would recognize those eyes and that hair anywhere. "Sirius let her get some air!" She had come running after followed at last by James.

Sirius looked up at the two of them. "Oh she's fine. Right babe?" The unknown girl just sighed and giggled.

"Oh, why don't you two just get a room." Called sixteen-year-old Remus Lupin from a the ground where he'd been sitting and picking at grass.

"Just because you can't find yourself a nice little wolfy b-" Sirius started.

"Padfoot!" James cut him off, cocking his head toward Harry, or Severus as it was Severus's memory after all.

Sirius looked over, smiled nastily and bent down to kiss the girl he was pinning to the ground. He looked back after a nice long kiss, got up and started stalking toward Sirius.

"What? You like to watch?" Sirius snarled. "You sick pervert. You can't have her she's your sister!"

"Sirius!" The girl and Lily yelled in unision.

"Leave him alone, he was just sitting there." Lily cried and ran inbetween the two of them. Sirius gave Lily a long glare, looked past her one last time at Snape and muttered, "Asshole."

Snape made a move to lunge at Sirius but now both girls were standing between the two groups.

"Come on Helena." Sirius said. The black haired girl looked back toward Severus.

"You go on, I want to talk to my brother for a minute."

"How you two are related I have no clue but if I were you I would get as far away from him as possible." Sirius snapped and walked off.

"Sirius! How incredible rude and -" Lily ran off after him, scolding him for once again being a jerk. Harry couldn't help but notice that Snape's memory watched her go much longer than it should have. James ran off after Lily.

"Severus." Helena cooed. "Why are you so weird all the time?"

"I don't like him." Snape's voice replied. "He's no good for you."

"He is a good boy. I like him a lot. You just don't give him a chance." Helena began pleading with her brother. "Can't you try to maybe see him for the good person he is…for me?"

Snape didn't reply but simple snarled after the other group.

"You are impossible!" Helena said. "They're good people. I don't care what you say."

"I'm just trying to look after you."

"I'm a big girl now Sev, you don't have to protect me anymore. I know I'm your little sister and I appreciate it but I'm not that little." There was an unspoken struggle. Helena sighed and gave up. She began to walk away but turned back. "I'll still see you tomorrow night for tea right?"

"Of course." Severus responded.

"Good." Helena smiled a smile that seemed familiar. "I love our family time."

Harry was quickly brought back into the dungeon office staring into a pair of eyes that looked exactly like those he had just been looking at, in a memory. Lindsey stood there with a momentary look of shock. She had had no idea there was someone else down here. Her face broke into a smile that lit up the room the same way the girl in Snape's memory had. Harry felt something in his head click. It was making sense. Lindsey looked from Harry, whose turning wheels were almost visible on his face, to her uncle whose face was paler than she'd ever seen. Lindsey was sure that something happened she hadn't been a party to.

"I'm sorry Professor." Lindsey tried to recover her voice sounding unnaturally calm. "I just had a question about our essay, I should have knocked."

The room was silent for a moment.

"Ms. Hathaway do make sure that anytime you feel the need to brown nose and seek extra help you do so at decent hours of the evening and that I am not with other, less competent students." Snape snapped. His voice was filled with displaced venom and Lindsey almost stumbled backwards by the blow. "Mr. Potter needs much more help than you. However, Potter, it is best we end for the evening as it is past the time when you should be back to your dormitories. Please come during my office hours tomorrow afternoon if you truly wish for unnecessary help."

Lindsey couldn't muster any kind of response. She blinked hard, trying to not show too much emotion. Harry glared at Snape, unable to believe the cruelty with which Snape had spoke to this girl who had nothing to do with the incident.

"Professor." Harry began, not willing to leave the memory he just saw behind.

"Goodnight Potter." Snape said, leaving no room for argument. "Hathaway."

Lindsey swiftly backed out of the door and was gone almost soundlessly. Harry looked back at Snape who looked as though he could breathe fire. He ran out of the door of the office quickly, hoping to catch Lindsey. He saw a glimpse of her robes turn the corner and Harry ran after. He could barely keep up with her as she raced through the castle with a surprising sense of direction. As he rounded a corner on the seventh floor, he frantically searched the corridor with his eyes but couldn't see her. He slowed down and continued to walk down the corridor wondering if she had hidden somewhere. He passed a classroom and thought he heard a noise. He pressed his ear to the door and thought he heard someone crying. The door opened to reveal the back of a girl with jet black hair and he almost thought he was back in the memory.

"Lindsey?" Harry almost whispered. He slowly approached the crying figure. She kept her face turned from him thinking that if she didn't respond he might think it was some other crying girl and leave. He sat down next to her on the desk top but didn't know what to do or say. "Are you-?" He wanted to ask what he thought he pieced together from the memory but he thought it might sound crazy. "okay?"

"I'm fine Harry. If you don't mind I'd like to be alone." Lindsey replied through tears. The last thing Harry wanted to do was leave. He wanted to ask questions and find out what Lindsey had been doing visiting Snape. If it was really just for homework help, why was she so upset? He wanted to know if Lindsey could really be related to Snape. He wanted to know if she had seen the memory as well. He wanted to comfort her and make her stop crying. He wanted to put his arm around her. Tell her everything was gonna be okay and that Snape was just a jerk. He wanted to wipe her tears from her eyes, take her cheek in his hand and slowly bring her lips to his. The way the light from the single, solitary candle glowing behind Lindsey created a heavenly aura around the sweet, wet face. But Harry didn't do any of those things. He just sat there are stared at her as she averted her eyes and continued to cry. He wished he could see into her mind at that moment to know what was happening.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Harry asked.

"I can't." Lindsey responded. And it was true. She wanted to talk about it so she couldn't just say no. But she didn't think her uncle would appreciate her talking about everything that was on her mind. Harry shook his head in understanding but he just sat there. And they sat there for sometime in relative silence. Lindsey continuing to cry, occasionally wiping her eyes and Harry working through the events of the night. Time passed and Lindsey finally cried enough. Harry's presense both helped her stop cry and make her continue to cry. The fact that he was willing to sit there and not ask questions but just be there made her feel better but it was also a reminder that she didn't have anyone here she could talk to about everything. She considered giving up her secrets: her relationship to Snape, his secrets that she was hiding, the continued pain she felt without her parents around, the frustration with this new place and her secret room which she had been trying to find. She could have sworn that she had found the correct door so she had no idea why she had not been in her magical dance studio but part of her wanted to show it to Harry.

"I thought I knew this castle better." She laughed as her tears began to subside.

"What do you mean?" Harry asked.

"When I was running, I was trying to find…this room…I found earlier." She started to explain. "I must not be as familiar with the castle as I thought."

"Moving staircases." Harry replied, remembering earlier conversations they had had.

"Oh right. Darn staircases."

"Come on. I'll make sure you get back to the common room just fine." Harry replied. And slowly the two got up and began to walk down the hallway back towards the Gryffindor tower strangely both closer and more distant at the same time. Looking around, Lindsey was sure she was in the right room in the right corridor but was secretly glad that she still had her secret room to herself, for now.


End file.
